May 26, 2006—The amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment decreased 4% from 2003 to 2004 according to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) released April 12. Significant decreases were seen in some of the most toxic chemicals from 2003-2004. Dioxin and dioxin compounds (decreased by 58%), mercury and mercury compounds (16%), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) (92%).
More than 23,000 facilities reported for calendar year 2004 and 90% used electronic reporting, which EPA says streamlined the process significantly. Facility-specific data was released in November 2005, and the full national data was released April 12.
According to the report, the amount of toxic chemicals released into the environment has declined 45% since 1998. EPA advises reviewing the full data in context, since in many cases changes from one year to the next are less important than longer-term trends.
For the TRI data and background information, visit the EPA Web site.
